Look at that, it’s a new year…

At the breakneck pace of 110,000 kilometers an hour, our little rock in space has yet to to let us down. We’re still alive and kicking. If I may quote Jayne Cobb, “and I guess that’s something.”

A lot of us make resolutions for ourselves when the calendars are switched out. Some stick to them, most invariably fail. Of course many of the failures are because people try to go for the cliche resolutions: lose weight, go to the gym, change your diet, and so on. These things aren’t bad but they’re destined to fail if you’re doing it because that’s what society expects you to, not because you’re dedicated to making a real life change.

But whatever it is that you’ve set our for yourself in 2017, whether it’s a “cliche” or not, I hope you succeed. I really would like this to be a better, healthier year. It’s going to be difficult. I am still having a hard time processing what happened in the American election, the fallout of which is still a dividing line between myself and members of my family. I’ve never let politics interfere with family matters before, but I believe strongly that there are certain moral and ethical lines that, when crossed, must be addressed, that I must speak out against what I feel in my heart is wrong even if it puts me at odds with relatives. The sad part is this conflict leads me to wonder whether they really understand who I am or why I believe in what I do, for such a deep ravine of difference to have formed between us.

I suppose if I have a real, fundamental quest in 2017, it is to figure out who should be in my life and what direction I need to steer my course toward. I’ll have to figure out whether the people in my life really know me or not. It’s startling, almost frightening in a way, to go so far, to have family, friends, even a partner say they get you and embrace you for what you are, only to have their actions not match their words. You could say that the final parting kick in the gut I received from 2016 was a huge dose of cognitive dissonance.

But wallowing in that is not the intent of this post. As difficult as it will be, I want this to be a better year, I want to be able to come here every week and write about more positive things. There will always be some darkness, I feel, and I know that there are things I will want to talk about, analyzing them in what you might call a cynical light, that will make me seem jaded, as I start questioning and taking apart these things we may see as benign or just a part of modern life. Some such topics I know will be humorous, others, possibly uncomfortable. No matter what I write about, however, the ultimate goal is to learn, to understand my self and the world around me better, and hopefully to help other people do the same thing, even if it’s merely in some small way.